Spiritual and
Ethical Issues in the Historical Books of Tanach;
SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE BEREISHIT STORIES These four books ostensibly are merely the history of Israel from the entry into the Promised Land until the destruction of the Temple and the temporary loss of independent statehood. In fact they are actually, in a specifically Jewish sense, the most deeply religious and spiritual books of the Bible. One does not have to be specifically Jewish to see or feel the religion and spirituality in the revelations of the prophetic writings or in the words of the Tehillim. They speak to all people, as evidenced by the fact that the Bible is still the world's bestseller and there are millions of non-Jews who regularly recite the Psalms. However, it is specifically and intrinsically Jewish to understand that G-d is revealed in the prosaic material, in the political, social and military events in the lives of ordinary men and women, kings and leaders that are described in the Nevim Rishonim. Here are described the ideology and religious thoughts in Judaism, while in Chronicles we have the purely historical. HAGAR and YISHMAEL [4] "And Sara saw the son of Hagar which she had born to Avraham, mocking (B'reishit 21:9). Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught: Rabbi Akiva saw this in a negative way and I see this as a positive. Rabbi Akiva said, 'metzachek' means sexual immorality as Potipha'rs wife said: "the Hebrew slave [Yosef] that Potiphar brought to play about with us" (B'reishit 39:14). Rabbi Yishmael taught that it signifies idolatry as it is written (Sh'mot 32:6): "and they [by the Golden Calf] rose up letzachek". Rabbi Eliezer ben Yosi HaGalili taught that it signifies bloodshed as it is written (Shmuel bet 2:14) "Let the young men arise and play [in battle] before us"; Ishmael used to take Yitzchak to a field and aim arrows at him saying it was only in jest. Yet I say that the mockery referred to the question of inheritance. Ishmael mocked Yitzchak by saying that after their father Avraham died he, as his first born would inherit, to which Sara Imeinu told Avraham that the son of Hagar not only would not inherit but would not even share in the inheritance of Yitzchak" (B'reishit Rabba 23:11). In this midrash we have two different views of Sara's reason for expelling Hagar and her son The first one finding in Ishmael's character and behavior the cause of his being unsuitable for the inheritance and therefore deserving expulsion. Then there is Bar Yochai saying that even were Ishmael a paragon of virtue, the mere fact of his not being her son was the sole factor. It is important to note that there are no opinions here, unlike when Hagar fled, faulting Sara's action. HaShem supports Bar Yochai when He says to Avraham, "In Yitzchak will seed be called unto you". The Sforno offers an explanation that seems to merge the two opinions in the midrash: "Sara saw that Yishmael mocked the great feast that Avraham made when Yitzchak was weaned saying that Avivemelech the Philistine was actually the father and this behavior of Yishmael angered her. She understood that Yitzchak was the heir to Avraham's spiritual inheritance so that the presence of Yishmael with his inferior midot would damage the purity of that inheritance". At first sight, it would seem more moral to justify the expulsion because of a character blemish of Yishmael rather than the question of his parentage, yet when we consider the mission and duty of the descendants of Avraham, "to teach his sons and members of his house after him to do righteousness and justice" (B'reishit 18:18), then we become aware of the importance of purity of descent and of Jewish insistence on it throughout the ages. Perhaps Chazal's teaching that Yishmael later did teshuva, but nevertheless he is still considered ineligible to share in the Abrahmic spiritual inheritance of Nation-Land-Relation to G-d, supports this idea. "'And the matter appeared bad in Avraham's eyes, on account of his son'. The last words of the verse are a compliment to Avraham as it shows that it was not in his desire for his concubine that he considered Sara's words wrongful but solely because of Yishmael, his son" (Ramban). Further- more, Avraham was deeply concerned that if Yishmael was problematical whilst still under the influence of his encampment, how much worse would be when left only to the influences of Hagar" (S. R. Hirsch). Sara was not concerned about the inheritance of Avraham's material wealth as are most heirs but solely about the Divine Promise of Nation, Land and His special relation with Israel. She saw that these were indivisible and so there could not be two heirs but also they required a spiritually pure seed and so this excluded Yishmael. Similarly Rivka saw that Birkat Avraham was not divisible so that there could not be two equal heirs; furthermore it had been foretold to her: "And the elder shall serve the younger", so she labored that the blessing should be Yaakov's. Here too, the issue was not the inheritance of material wealth since we see that that was promised to Eisav when Yitzchak thought that he was actually blessing him, whereas knowingly he gave to Yaakov the Birkat Avraham. "If Hagar would have remained in Avraham's house, then she would be considered as an equal wife and her son, even if sent away, an equal heir; many sons leave home and wander far but do not thereby lose their share in the father's wealth. Sarah did not want that after Avraham's death, Hagar's son should share the wealth" (Abarbanel). There is no contradiction between this view that Sara was rightly concerned with Avraham's material wealth and the spiritual dimension of the Abrahamic inheritance. There is an important spiritual difference between making somebody one's heir and giving others gifts and present on one's death. The former is a spiritual connection even though it takes a material form while the latter is purely material. We see that Avraham made Yitzchak his heir, but only gifts to the sons of his concubines, Ketura and Hagar, when he sent them from the presence of his son Yitzchak (B'reishit 25:6). "'Everything that Sara says to you, obey her voice' - from this we learn that Sara was at a higher level of prophecy (Tanchuma). We know however, that all the revelations were given to Avraham, yet Sara reached a higher level since she had faith in the prophecy that Avraham received" (HaEmek Davar). This is the 105th installment in Dr. Tamari’s series on “Tanach and its messages for our times” [The
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